Breaking news, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! And to celebrate I am releasing the long awaited final installment to my Watchdogs Trilogy for all of you.
This story went through many changes as more lore of the source material it is based of of (Overwatch) was released in between installments. As a result some battles I had planned on had to be cut to make room for others. But I think you will be pleased with what will be the final product and even with some cut fights this will still be more than likely the longest installment because we got a LOT to go through.
So sit down, pop you some popcorn and let's get started with Watchdogs Vol: III
In a small town in the country of Haiti, Tooth and a group of other doctors worked frantically to help heal a group of injured civilians that were injured in a serious robot attack. With the hospital among the many of building destroyed or damaged the doctors were forced to have the injured patients lay on beds in tents.
Ever since Creek had taken over control of all robots more than nine years ago attacks such as these were becoming almost a weekly thing, in the past year alone more than a million lives had been lost in robot attacks and in just the first quarter of this year the death count had already surpassed that from this point the previous year.
The death count in the most recent attack ranges to be around four hundred with another seven hundred injured, most in critical or severe condition" Tooth could hear over the TV as she worked on a patient. The patient had to have his leg amputated after the roof of his house fell on top of him. Without their usual medical supplies due to the hospital being destroyed it was difficult for her to use her nano technology to heal the patient at a quicker pace so she was forced to use old school surgery to try to stop the bleeding and close his wounds. After more than a hour of surgery the wound was closed and the bleeding has stopped. The guy was going to make it.
"He will be okay," Tooth told her assistant, a grey troll with red hair, "When he is stable we will go over prosthetic options. "If that's the last one for the day I'm going to hit the sack early."
"Already?" Her assistant asked "It's only seven PM?"
"Barb, I've been doing surgeries since six this morning, only stopping for quick bites to eat all day. Tomorrow won't be any easier, I'm exhausted."
"At least you have a job," Barb replied as Tooth walked to her tent, "After the Watchdogs were shut down, I know how society treated all of you, like criminals. Must have been hard for anybody to give you a chance."
Tooth sighed, hearing Barbs words. She was right though, after Watchdog folded it was years before anybody gave her a chance. Tooth was at one time one of the most well respected doctors in the world and was the first doctor to specialize in nanobiology, microscopic tech that could heal most injuries at rapid speed. But ever since what happened with the Watchdogs, her reputation was ruined, and most doctors wouldn't touch her. Desperate for money after Watchdogs Tooth did a lot of underground doctors work just to survive, it wasn't until just three years ago that this travelling surgeon took a chance on her and gave her a job, which she gladly accepted. Even then though, even with the war with the robot war going on, many patients refused to let Tooth operate on them, blaming her for the war going because she was part of the Watchdogs.
Most nights despite being exhausted Tooth didn't get much sleep, laying awake thinking about how south her career and reputation went all because she chose to be apart of a organization that she thought was supposed to help the world. Tooth opposed the militaristic approach of the Watchdogs, she was against violence and only agreed to join them to save lives. But as the war had grown worse over the years she often found herself forced to pick up a gun and join the battlefield. It was the times she was forced to take a life that haunted her nightmares. She had joined the Watchdogs to save lives yet, the longer she was with them the more she was forced to take them. It was those actions, and being a part of a organization that ended in a cloud of controversial scandals that destroyed her career that made these past eighteen years hell for the once highly respected doctor.
Not that it had all been bad, she had rescued her assistant Bard from the Raptors when Barb was trying to flee the organization. Like Tooth, Barb was a doctor that had joined a organization due to lies and broken promises. Once Barb had realized Raptors true colors she fled, ultimately causing a target to be put on her back. Tooth had witnessed one of the Raptors many attacks two years against Barb when she was stopping in a local bar in Switzerland and came to her aid after the two of them fought off the Raptor agent. Offering her shelter and a job with her new organization, she offered her protection, which Barb gladly accepted.
Still the bad had far outweighed the good and she was just now starting to get back on her feet, at the cost of total to near exhaustion.
Tooth didn't know what time she fell asleep, or what time it was when she woke up, all she knew was that she was awoken by the sound of someone unzipping the tent she was sleeping in for the night. In order to be close to all of the patients in case they were needed for immediate on the spot surgery all of the doctors and surgeons were forced to sleep in tents on the medical grounds. It was that reason that Tooth thought she was being awoken because she was being selected to do some overnight surgery.
"Ugh..." Tooth moaned as she rubbed her eyes awake, "I will be right over, what are we looking at?" When Tooth's vision became clear she gasped at who she was staring at "Branch?"
"It's been a long time hasn't it my friend."
"We are not friends Branch," Tooth snapped. "And your supposed to be dead."
"What can I say? It's going to take more than a fire to take me down. How have you been these past seventeen years?"
"Miserable thanks to you. You and your Watchdogs ruined my reputation, I had to do illegal underground surgeries for years just to make a living. You ruined my life Branch."
"You know good and well the Watchdogs were set up."
"Yeah, but you let it happen because you were to busy breaking the rules to discover the mole right under your nose."
Branch sighed as he tried his best to apologize to his prized doctor. "Look your right. Me and Poppy, we broke rules, we both should have seen the corruption in Pitch, in Chef. We let you down, but the world, they need us all now more than ever."
"You ruined my life Branch!"
"I know, and I can't apologize enough for it. Trust me, I wouldn't be coming to you if I didn't absolutely need you."
Tooth stepped out of her tent, causing Branch to follow after her. "Look around you Branch, all of these people are victims due to the war. I am needed here. You can't expect me to abandon all of these people to join back in your illegal shenanigans."
"I can expect you to do whatever it takes to save lives. You want this war over just as me Tooth, these robots are just as much victims as the people they are being forced to kill. You don't have to take a life, but if you come back to us, I promise you will be not only saving lives but the world."
"I... I don't know if I can trust you anymore Branch, after last time and the pain you caused me. How can you promise me, things will be different?"
"I can't promise, but what I can say is that rather the world wants us, they need us, more and more people are dying each day. The Raptors are winning, and we were the only ones that was able to stop the robots last time they tried to take over. You will probably be condemned, cursed, the world won't speak fondly of you at first. But you never became a doctor for the fame, you never joined the Watchdogs to be hailed a hero."
"I joined because I wanted to save lives." Tooth finished, realizing where Branch was going with this.
Suddenly there was a loud explosion in the distance. Branch and Tooth looked to their left to see a large cloud of smoke coming from about a mile away.
"Oh my God," Tooth gasped. "Their back!"
"Who?" Branch asked
"Nullsector, they were the robots that caused all of this," Tooth pointed to the dozens of tents filled with patients. "They aren't going to stop until they wipe this entire town out of existence.
"Then we have to stop them."
"Branch, your just one troll, their is hundreds of them."
"Well it's a good thing I got you as backup."
"I won't be picking up a weapon Branch, I swore when I left the Watchdogs that I would never take another life. I am meant to save lives not take them. I will tend to the wounded, you are going to be alone out there."
"Well then, good luck."
As Branch ran off towards the battle, other doctors including Barb ran out of their tents, most still in their pajamas, to see what was going on.
"Their back everyone!" Tooth screamed over them. "Grab your gear and move!"
Tooth ran back to her tent and only grabbed one thing, her Caduseus staff. During her days as a Watchdog this staff saved many of lives with it wielding the nanobiology she used to heal her patients. She had barely picked it up in the past seventeen years, keeping it locked in a case. Still she kept it with her as a reminder of her old days, she never really understood why, she guessed despite her anger towards them, part of her still missed the old days.
Brushing off the dust she grabbed the staff and went in awe over it's bright glow.
"Hello my baby, you miss me?"
Taking to the skies she flew over a hill to see the number of robots attacking. There was well over a hundred, Branch even as well trained as him couldn't handle them all. Their best bet would be to get the people underground where they would be safe.
"Barb!" Tooth cried out returning to her crew, "Get these patients underground fast, their is to many of them, they are going to level the city."
"But what about the rest of the civilians?"
"Everyone else round up as many civilians as you can. This city is lost, but we can still save everyone if we act now! Move!"
Barb nodded and ran over to the tents to evacuate the patients, the other doctors started banging on civilians doors to try to evacuate as many people as possible. Tooth flew over the city gathering as many people as she could in the streets.
"There's a tunnel about a mile East of here," Tooth told the civilians, "It was used during the first robot war as a bomb shelter, it should be able to fit everyone, but we got to move now, and not look back."
Suddenly there was a loud explosion down the street, Tooth turned around when she saw a house completely go up in flames.
"NO!" A elderly woman cried, "My daughter and grand babies live there!"
"I got them, don't worry," Tooth reassured.
"How can I trust you? You worked for those criminal Watchdogs, your all responsible for this mess."
"Whatever my past sins may be," Tooth reassured "I swear to you, I am here to help."
Tooth then flew off towards the burning house, covering her face with her arms she burst through the door and started looking for people inside.
"Where are you?" Tooth called out,
"Help us!" A young feminine voice called out from another room. The voice sounded like it came from the dining room, running that direction while using her arms to shield the fire, Tooth saw A mother and two small kids, a boy and a girl. A piece of fallen debris from the roof had fallen on them, trapping them underneath.
"Hold on," Tooth cried out, "I'm going to get you out!" Tooth ran over and started trying to lift the large piece of wood trapping the family, but it was extremely heavy, and Tooth was finding herself struggling to lift it enough for them to escape. Tooth paused when she heard more of the roof crack, if she didn't hurry she was going to get buried too.
"Save lives," Tooth told herself "That is your first mission." Adrenaline and determination to save this family flowing through her, she lifted the debris enough for the family to get loose.
"Go now!" The family didn't hesitate, they crawled out as fast as they could. As soon as the last one crawled out Tooth dropped the debris, and heard the roof starting to crack more.
"We got to go, hurry!" Tooth started to shoo the family towards the door, but the daughter fell to the floor grasping her leg.
"My leg, I can't move!" The daughter cried.
Tooth knelt down and quickly felt the girl's leg. "It's broken," Tooth told the mother with concern in her eyes. "You are going to have to carry her."
The mother picked up the girl and ran out the door just seconds before the entire house collapsed. Once outside Tooth spotted several Nullsector robots searching the streets. Tooth grabbed the mother by the shoulder and pulled her and the son behind a bush to hide. Tooth put her right index finger to her lips to signal for them not to make a sound as the robots searched the streets. Nobody dared moved until the robots passed by them, then once Tooth felt the coast was clear she signaled for them to start moving, making sure to speak as quietly as possible to not risk being heard.
"There is a old tunnel less then a mile East of here, if we can make it there we should be safe."
"There is robots crawling everywhere," The mother replied "We won't dare make it."
Suddenly Tooth heard the sound of metal feet marching down the street, turning around Tooth's eyes lit up as she saw several robots approaching their way.
"Run," Tooth told the family, "Run!"
The robots started shooting at the four as they ran down the street trying to get to safety. Lifting the boy into her arms Tooth took to the air, shielding him with her arms.
"Just close your eyes and keep them closed," Tooth told the terrified boy.
Tooth suddenly spotted a church down the street. It wasn't the church though that caught her eye, it was the storm shelter next to it. If they could reach it, they could hide in there till the attack was over.
"Follow me, just a little more ways!"
Setting the boy down Tooth lifted the door to the shelter, the boy ran in first followed by the mother and daughter. Tooth was about to walk in when she suddenly got shot in the shoulder by a one of the bullets. The family screamed in horror as Tooth grabbed her arm and seethed in pain. Turning her head, Tooth glared at the robot that shot her, before walking inside the shelter and locking it behind her.
"Everyone get down on your bellies," Tooth advised, "and whatever you do, don't move or make a sound."
The family nodded and got down, suddenly a wave of bullets flew over their heads, they all shielded their heads with their arms as bullet after bullet shot through the door and out the back yard. The kids started to cry but Tooth and the mother quickly shushed them as one of the robots walked up and stared into one of the bullet holes left in the door. Everyone held their breath, hoping, preying that the robot would assume they were dead and leave.
Thankfully for them the robot did just that and left, after a few minutes everyone got up and huddled close together and waited for the attack to cease.
"Your hurt," The young girl pointed out to Tooth, noticing blood spilling from her right arm.
"I'll be okay," Tooth encouraged, taking her staff and touching it to her injured arm. The kids looked in amazement as the staff glowed a bright yellow and Tooth's injury sudden closed within a matter of seconds.
"You got a name dear," Tooth asked the girl.
"Widelene" The young girl replied.
"Well Widelene, I'm going to ask you to remain calm, this might hurt a little, but the pain will go away in just a few seconds." Tooth put her staff to Widelene's leg and the girl tensed up as the staff glowed a bright yellow, but soon the pain from her leg suddenly calmed down tremendously.
"I'm going to ask you to get on your feet."
Widenlene was a but uncertain but Tooth remained confident and offered her hand. "Do you trust me?" Widenlene still was uncertain but slowly she took Tooth's hand and once she put pressure on the leg that was broken she felt little pain.
"The leg still has a little bit of nerve damage and strain, but it is more than ninety percent healed." Tooth replied
"Thank you," The mother replied "Names Esther by the way and my son over there is Ricardo. We are very grateful for what you have done for us."
"Just doing my job."
"Your one of them aren't you?" Widelene asked "One of those heroes my mom tells stories to us about each night."
Tooth sighed as she took a seat next to the family. "I was a long time ago, the world doesn't really consider us heroes anymore, I don't think even I consider myself one much anymore."
"You are one though," Esther replied "You have proven it to us, you saved all of us."
"Will this ever end," Widelene asked "The war?"
"I hope so."
"Why aren't you with them, the rest of the heroes?"
"I guess it's because, I am having a hard time forgiving the past." Tooth admitted, not just to Widelene but to herself as well. "A lot of mistakes were made, and it cost me my reputation, I had a hard time getting back on my feet, and when I finally did, I didn't want anything to do with my past life." Tooth looked down at her staff, "But sometimes your past finds a way to find you rather you like it or not. I guess I'm just scared of what will happen if I return."
Widelene put a hand on Tooth's shoulder. "My mom tells me it's okay to be scared, but when you do to close your eyes and sing a little song, then your nerves will calm and what you are afraid of will become a lot less scary."
Tooth and Widelene both closed their eyes and took a deep breath, then Widelene started singing a small Haitian lullaby in her native language. Despite not knowing the words Tooth listened to every word, then her nerves calmed and her path became a lot more clearer. This was her calling, the Watchdogs, and despite what had happened in the past, she needed to move on. The world needed her, these past twenty four hours proved that. This little girl believed in her, and even though she was just one person, if she could get just one person to believe in her, then maybe overtime the world will believe in them again. But she couldn't make that happen by hiding from her past.
Tooth suddenly heard a knock on the door. The kids started to panic and Tooth stepped in front of them.
"Get behind me everyone."
"Tooth, it's me," Tooth heard a familiar masculine voice say "The cost is clear"
"Branch!"
Tooth opened the door and greeted Branch with a giant hug. "The robots searched the entire city but found no one. Whatever you did Tooth, you just saved thousands of lives."
Tooth couldn't believe it, her actions today saved the entire town.
"Your meant to be A Watchdog Tooth. I know we made some mistakes in the past, but we can't win this fight without you. You just saved an entire city, so please, help me save the entire world."
Tooth thought about Branch's offer before turning to Barb and the rest of her doctors.
"We can handle things from here Tooth," Barb replied.
"I promised I would keep you safe Barb," Tooth turned to Branch "I will return on one condition, she joins me. She needs my protection as well."
"Deal."
Barb couldn't believe her ears. "Tooth, with my background, you really think they will accept me?"
"You are not that troll anymore."
"Than I will accept your offer, but first I would like to finish my duties here, then I will join you in battle my friend."
"Do as you feel is right, I will be waiting for you, my friend." Tooth and Barb then gave each other a goodbye hug before Tooth departed with Branch.
There was no doubt in Tooth's mind now, despite her doubt, her fear, and her past anger, the world needed her. Despite the good she was doing healing the wounded, she needed to do a lot more if the world was truly going to be safe. The Haitians considered her a hero, and heroes never run from a fight, they charge towards it, they protect those that could not protect themselves, and Tooth was a hero, the Watchdogs were heroes, and heroes, they lived on.
Heroes never die.
This wasn't my original idea for the opening chapter, but some months back a Short story based on the Overwatch Hero Mercy (Who Tooth is a parody of) came out that was focused on her returning to Overwatch after they were recalled on focused and like in this chapter, focused on her being hesitant after her affiliation with Overwatch destroyed her reputation but ultimately deciding to rejoin after a attack on the city she was helping. Basically I thought it would be a good way to start the story and set the tone for what to expect in this final installment, as well as a good way to bring back a character who was MIA last story.
Hope you liked it and I will see you next chapter